Persian Literary Translation Through the Translation of Hafez

Undergraduate / Graduate

Persian Literary Translation Through the Translation of Hafez Translating poetry is often a challenging endeavor, but translating Persian classical poetry is especially complex for several reasons, including the genre's prevalence of ebhām (ambiguity) and ihām (polyvalence). These challenges have caused many literary translators to dub Hafez's poetry as practically untranslatable, yet nonetheless there have been many attempts at translation, with varying degrees of success. This course aims to both explore the specific challenges translators of Hafez have encountered and also to strengthen students' literary translation skill through the translation of Hafez's works. After conducting a survey of existing translations of Hafez and other Persian classical poets, hands-on translations of several ghazals of Hafez will foster a better understanding of the multilayered meanings of his poetry. In addition, published as well as video sources on literary translation will serve as an introduction to prevailing theories of translation and to efficient methodologies of translating literary texts. The course being essentially designed to familiarize students with the practice of translation, students will create and refine their own translations of selected poems of Hafez. The complete term paper must be 10-15 pages of typed double-spaced font 12 text and include the introductory essay, the translation, and the original poems.